A writer's fictional alter ego wants to take over his life...at any price.
The Dark Half (1993) Online
When Thad Beaumont was a child, he had an operation to remove a tumour from his brain. during the operation, it was discovered that far from being a tumor, the growth was a twin brother of Thad's that never developed. Years later, Thad is a successful author, writing his serious books under his own name, and his pulp money-makers under the pseudonum "George Stark". When blackmailed by someone who has discovered his secret, Thad publically "buries" George Stark. From that point on, Thad increasingly becomes the prime suspect in a series of gruesome murders.
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
 | Timothy Hutton | - | Thad Beaumont / George Stark |
 | Amy Madigan | - | Liz Beaumont |
 | Michael Rooker | - | Sheriff Alan Pangborn |
 | Julie Harris | - | Reggie Delesseps |
 | Robert Joy | - | Fred Clawson |
 | Kent Broadhurst | - | Mike Donaldson |
 | Beth Grant | - | Shayla Beaumont |
 | Rutanya Alda | - | Miriam Cowley |
 | Tom Mardirosian | - | Rick Cowley |
 | Larry John Meyers | - | Dr. Pritchard |
| Patrick Brannan | - | Young Thad Beaumont |
 | Royal Dano | - | Digger Holt |
| Glenn Colerider | - | Homer Gamache |
| Sarah Parker | - | Wendy Beaumont / William Beaumont |
| Elizabeth Parker | - | Wendy Beaumont / William Beaumont |
According to Stephen King, the story of this film was part autobiographical, as it was inspired by the events that led to him revealing his own writing pseudonym of "Richard Bachman".
The Dark Half was the last novel Stephen King wrote before becoming completely sober. His addiction, and his desire to go sober, are reflected in the book's themes of dual personalities.
In the prologue of this Stephen King adaptation, Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton) wants to become a writer, and is shown writing stories. The title of his first typewritten story is "Here There Be Tygers", which is also the real title of the first short story King wrote in his career. The story can be found in King's "Skeleton Crew" anthology.
According to Writer and Director George A. Romero, Timothy Hutton was quite difficult to work with at times. Hutton even quit the film for a few days during the production.
All of the shooting locations for the film were around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. They were chosen for their close location to George A. Romero's house in Pittsburgh.
Shot in 1991, but not released until 1993, due to Orion Pictures' financial problems.
Final film of Royal Dano.
The characters of Sheriff Alan Pangborn and Deputy Norris Ridgewick appeared later the same year in Needful Things (1993), played by Ed Harris and Ray McKinnon, respectively. Harris is also Amy Madigan's husband in real-life.
In total, four thousand five hundred Cut Throat Finches were used for the sparrows in the film. The birds would consume one hundred pounds of birdseed, and fifteen gallons of water on a daily basis during the production.
The car George Stark is driving, is a 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado.
The film's release was delayed for two years by bankruptcy problems with Orion Pictures.
George Stark is named for Richard Stark, the pseudonym of Donald E. Westlake. He was also the source of the first name Richard in Stephen King's pseudonym, Richard Bachman.
Different artwork was created for the Australian print ads. The image featured an illustration of Thad Beaumont. One half of his face was that of Timothy Hutton, while the other half was a heavily-stylized version of evil alter ego George Stark. A shiny straight razor was in the center, splitting the image.
The original novel mentions a character, who's never seen, by the name of Wilma, whose catchphrase is "Just call me Billy". This is a reference to the character of Wilma in "The Crate", a short story by Stephen King, that was adapted by King as a segment of Creepshow (1982), also directed by George A. Romero.
Movie tie-in adventure game, also called The Dark Half, was released for MS-DOS in 1992. It loosely follows the plot of the movie, and resembles Lucas Arts and Sierra's early adventure games. The game immediately fell into obscurity, and is now a collector's item among King's and adventure games fans.
Timothy Hutton's first role in a Stephen King adaptation. He would later co-star in Secret Window (2004) alongside Johnny Depp.
Until the Stephen King-based film "1922" came out in 2017, The Dark Half was the most faithful adaptation of a Stephen King work to ever be filmed. This was possibly because writer-director George Romero and King were good friends.
For its release in Germany, the film was re-titled "Stark".
The Australian theatrical release was over a year after the U.S. release, due to the film's poor performance in that country.
John Hurt and Michael Gough were considered for major cameos.
The Beaumont's lake house is located in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine - the same town in which Cujo (1983), Stand By Me (1986), and Needful Things (1993) takes place. All films are from the works of author Stephen King.
Approximately two thousand finches were released into the sets of the Beaumont house, for the shooting of the film's finale.
An intense scene of George Stark forcing his way into the Beaumont home and taking Liz and the twins hostage was shot. The scene was later cut from the film in favor of a more chilling revelation of Stark taking Thad's family hostage.
Thad Beaumont is right-handed, whereas George Stark is left-handed. Stark is a terratoma which started growing in Beaumont's brain when Beaumont absorbed him in the womb, meaning they're technically twin brothers. The frequency of pairs of MZ twins in which only one twin is left-handed is about 21%. Left-handedness is more common among groups of twins than any other group of relatives.
Because of the inherent dangerous working conditions of actors and crew trying to perform their duties in a house full of swarming birds, the vast majority of birds in the climax of the film were a digital composite added in post production. In only a few shots of this scene are there physical birds on set.
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